Burning Wheel Gold interest check-seeking startrGM

Wondering if there's interest in Burning Wheel Gold and if there world be someone willing to GM to teach. I'm an old rpg player but new to BWG. Also willing to learn with others from scratch.

I'd be interested in playing, however I don't have time to run another game.

I wonder how easy or difficult would be to try to run from novice. I might've started the Mouse Guard opening scenario some years back, but nothing in-depth or obviously long enough on a Burning Wheel engine.

I GMed BW for the first 2 times (my first 2 campaigns, first play experiences), via PbP, without ever having played. It's the kind of system where it's unlikely you'll find someone to run it for you, it seems.

Some thing's I learned:
1.) if you stick to the hub n spokes there's not much to it: just focusing on the narrative tells you when you need to roll the dice ("Whoa, this is big. You need to roll!"), so you go through it

2.) you should stick pretty close to the hub n spokes (maybe venturing into magic/emotional traits and bloody versus - IF you really want to) for your first time(s) anyway, especially in PbP which doesn't lend well to F!/RnC/DoW

3.) everyone's gotta start some where

If you could step up and do the GMing I'd certainly help with the teaching. But I only have 3 months experience with it via PbP, which is equivalent to about 2-3 sessions, so we'll all be noobs together.

I'm a big fan of Torchbearer, but have only run two sessions of that. I haven't played BW, but there is a lot of common ground there.

I could be convinced to join a BW game.

One experiment I am currently running is a game of 5e with house rules based on Torchbearer's Fate/Persona and the grind. I would be happy to share if any are i terested.

I also have some experience with Burning Wheel in a PbP form and would love to be a player if the game starts. I have about as much experience as Emsquared (2-3 sessions worth) and could help you learn the basics as we learn the advanced mechanics together.

If you're interested in running this game, let's get it started!

I would absolutely be interested in playing in a game of BW! I'm a total newbie to the system but I have read the book back and forth... let me know if you run this game, I'd love to be involved!

Sounds fun and well-supported! Tx, emsqr'd & S_P. I'd love to try. A caveat though: I'm entering the last couple of months before an annual audit at work. I won't disappear but might slow down relative to posting rate. I'll be active and responsive if it looks like a tough week.

With that said, considering the following proposed details, whatch'all think about draft start below? (Comments in brackets are more to give an idea of what kind of role-play I'm trying to explore; wasn't going to include in notice)

@Torchbearer - sounds interesting! Reminds me of how I'm always trying to mashcup Ars Magica V's covenants, etc w/ whatever system.


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System: Burning Wheel Gold

Player Count: up to ~6 [ w/ hope that development of GMs, sandbox opens more in future]

Style of Play: Roleplay, Sandbox, [possible organizations and their infrastructure additional focus in future]

Required Content:

-free Pdf of BWG Hub and Spokes
At https://www.burningwheel.com/store/index.php/core-books/burning-wheel-gold-hub-and-spokes.html

-free pdf Character Sheet and Reference sheets
At https://www.burningwheel.com/store/index.php/free-pdfs/burning-wheel-gold-play-sheet-pdfs.html

Posting rate: min. 3x/week

One general thought, I feel like BW thrives best under a pretty focused story... it allows Beliefs to be crafted in the most meaningful way (so that they all aren't just Fate mines). Short of that, I think the players need to be tied together really tightly in some way, so that we can orient our Beliefs toghtly toward each other. Ideally it's both those things, I think, but most definitely the latter if nothing else. That said, of course Beliefs can change, but if we start sandboxy the players will want to develop pretty specific goals based off the "atmosphere" of the sandbox airily soon. And at that point, would it be better to have just had a focused story to start so that we can be sure we're all interacting with each other?

Getting into the details of Character Burn, I see and concur.

I'm aiming for four lifepaths with exponent cap at default six. I believe three was minimum. As always, your experiences and thoughts welcome as we figure out how and what to hone in on. I'm hoping to post looking for (remaining) players by later tonight or earlier tomorrow a.m. U.S. Eastern Standard Time (also my time zone).

Burning wheel thrives off of communal story building, I do agree a story functions better than a sandbox, but the way it's encourages by the book is to get the players involved in world and story ideas, so that our characters can pursue goals that we as players are also interested in, as a sandbox style also encourages.

Perhaps, rather than sandboxing, we all bring in some plot ideas and world ideas, and we can all vote or debate different ideas until a world and plot arc come together.

For example, we as players start heavily indebted to a crooked banker who is trying to run our small town into the ground for his own gain (something far more sinister, like an ancient grave site under our town that he thinks holds a great power). that binds our characters and gives us some immediate goals (repay debts and not lose *insert business*) as well as something grander to explore as we get more powerful.

Number of LPs all depends on what "scale" of story you want. 4 LPs is fine with me, capable but not necessarily heroic. 5 can yield more diverse individual PCs, but if we're doing a group of 6 this shouldn't be a problem. Are you certain you're comfortable with 6 PCs, 4thW? The more players the more of a demand in your time there will be.

Are you wanting to stick to Man Stock only (not a bad idea for first campaign)? What about magic and Faith (I would like both to be options)? Any restrictions (like; no Noble Born, etc.)?

As for the big picture, I like the direction Secret_P is going. Something fairly small-scale at the start, but with the potential to turn into something more epic.

Cool, so after players are determined.

: ) Tx, couldn't be certain. I was thinking 4-6. Is the game crunchy enough, then, that it's sounding like lower party number is tighter and significant per player. If LPs to # of players/time is somewhat inversely proportional, then I'm thinking: prefer 4-5 players with 5 LPs. I love diverse. ; )

My thoughts on player numbers is as follows; literally the only reason I haven't ran BWG yet for my weekly irl group is because we have 6 ppl. BW is so character-focused (thru Beliefs), that I feel like the more players you have, the more diluted each PCs story will be. In PbP this isn't really a worry, as there is no "table time" constraint that everyone has to split up, instead the constraint is the GMs free time - hence why I mentioned the demand on your time.

Both BW campaigns I ran had 3 players, and I fealt like that was a good number for me (I wouldn't want any smaller, but much bigger could have been too much going on). I think 4-5 is a fine number if you're feeling confident in your BW boots, as it allows you to have players coming at the Main Conflict from about every angle, and to have them thoroughly entangled in each other's lives, but not have too complex of a web of Beliefs.

And no, I wouldn't say that LPs and player count are inversely proportional as a rule, just that 4 LPs is about the lowest number where the LP system can shine - plenty of options open up for interesting combinations - and its the lowest number where you'll have a PC that feels like they could be a hero. 3 LPs you feel like the underdog. 5 LPs can get into the down-right heroic area and is a fine number, so long as you want a heroic feel - like Strider in LotR: FotR, would probably be 5 LPs, while Frodo would be like 3.

This is by my estimation, anyway, would be good to get others thoughts/feelings/input, of course.

Hey guys, definitely following this thread with interest, I know I'm not as knowledgeable on BW as the rest of you but I can definitely make the 3x weekly min posting rate. Only Human stock LPs allowed? I'm going over the Character Burner right now... am I in? (Keeping fingers crossed)

I figure all of you are the original supporters and are all in.

I forgot to address we're including elves, orcs and dwarves and no restrictions on lifepaths/settings. Posting look for remaining characters.

Magic? Faith?

I'm up to find out what this is all about. I'm new to this so let's do it!

Man: Soldier Born of Rags
Ready to sail the seas as a Sea Captian everyone I can take you up and down the coats if I ever know what I'm doing.👌👌

In contact with 4thWorlder he says there are no restrictions on magic, faith, nobility, race, etc. it's whatever you want just prepared to be a hero!

I've never seen it in play, but I've seen many experienced players warning against overmixing races. I'm down to see how it plays out though.

also, before we dive too far into character creation, we should decide at least what kind of situation were looking at. a barbarian orc, a high lord, and pirates may be hard to justify as a party.

On that note, I've always wanted to try an orc.

Ooh, good to know. And user: DarkendFoil is my son. Interest took off when I shared what we were up to.

Haha alright fair point, I've actually decided to see if I can't do something with magic myself instead of hitting the seas. And I wonder, do orcs have the option to be civil with other races?

It's true that Elves and Dwarves are probably going to mechanically "out-weigh" Men when given the same LP count (dunno about Orcs). The different Stocks (not to mention any given LP) are not balanced against each other, that's not the kind of game BW is, and the fantasy races are just more focused, and generally just more fit for "traditional" heroic roles... But that's also not really how you advance in BW, in theory it should be ok so long as the campaign is played true to the ethos of BW and not like a more traditional system's campaign.

As for character creation, I think we should absolutely have a pretty good idea about what the campaign is about before making characters. The system is designed to work best when each PC is tied to the specific situation through concept (Belief), as well as to the other PCs.

So I had an idea for the situation/world, building on what has been said previously:
The setting is a coastal town in a land ruled by a brutal tyrant, maybe the tyrant is based out of this town or out of a distant capital. The characters would start off in jail, a jail where many kinds of criminals are kept--common smugglers and pirates, gamblers and thieves, those who have come trespassing from other lands and have been unjustly imprisoned, or even resistance fighters for a rebel force against the tyrant. What do you guys think?

I think this is a fine addition.

However it's important in BW that not only do the PCs have a situation that brings them together - the "meet cute" so-to-speak - but also the PCs need to be intertwined (in cooperative AND conflicting ways) via Beliefs.

So, it's not enough that we all start in the same place/jail, or even that we are all imprisoned by the same tyrant - if we continue with that premise. We need to craft Beliefs that connect us directly to that storyline and each other in concrete pre-determined ways. Beliefs (along with Instincts and Traits) tell us what is important to our PCs and what their goals and rp will be geared toward in the game.

Does that make sense?

I'm just trying to get people to think about, basically, how important Beliefs are in the game. Which is very, Beliefs are very important. They are more "real" - more character defining and guiding - than alignment in systems that have that, and they are how your PC advances or grows and changes, mechanically and conceptually.

Thumbs up to last few posts and see it's over in our game forum now.

Mind if I copy this over to game forum?

No, please go ahead

And it does make sense. Reminds me of Diaspora and other Fate rpgs where you have to have an aspect or two related to other characters.

Sounds like we're getting closer. 4thWorlder, do you have any particular setting or theme you want to explore? I'm excited to start creating my character but would love some guidance before I start coming up with a concept.

I think we're moving all discussion to the game forums, Mr_B.

http://gamersplane.com/forums/thread/6023/